DRESSING FOR DINNER.

DRESSING FOR DINNER. Downton Abbey (and Brideshead Revisited) have left me with a feeling of relief that I never had to put on formal dress for dinner. I marvel at how much time must have been spent on what seems to me a useless activity. The Economist has a review (April 13) of Lucy Lethbridge’s SERVANTS: A DOWNSTAIRS VIEW OF 20TH CENTURY BRITAIN which quotes Winston Churchill’s valet as saying that Churchill couldn’t dress himself: “He sat there like a dummy and you dressed him.” Even with expert help (which I would have eagerly accepted), the process must have wasted a lot of time.